Reports

Published on October 31st, 2014 | by Crow

5

The Spooky Scary Halloween Party

Happy Halloween everyone! I love pretty much everything about Halloween – costumes, candy, parties, and poorly made horror movies. Needless to say, I was pretty excited for the Halloween Party tournament. Unfortunately, the rules for the tournament ended up being rather unclear. Every page said a Super Sized Gourgeist must be in the battle box, except for one which had the note “Gourgeist must participate in battle”. I interpreted this note as Gourgeist must be in the Battle Box, as it was also the only page to not say Gourgeist must be in the Battle Box. This led to some complications for the team, but I still ended up with doing OK.

The Gourgeist Factor

Before I get into my team itself, I want to talk a bit about how being forced to bring Gourgeist every game affected the metagame. Gourgeist, while a fairly bulky pokemon, is pretty darn frail when everything can hit you super effectively, especially when a majority of those hits are coming from the Special Attack side. This meant that Pokemon such as Choice Specs Chandelure and Calm Mind Spiritomb became much stronger than in a format where you did not have to bring Gourgeist every time, simply by virtue of having less which could deal with them. The team I built was designed for a format where I did not have to bring Gourgeist, thus some of my strategies for dealing with the more powerful Pokemon in the format were thrown off. Because of this my team report will also occasionally feature changes I would have made if I had been more aware that I needed to bring Gourgeist every game.

The Team

Boo!
Gourgeist-Super @ Choice Band
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 4 Def / 196 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
– Trick
– Shadow Sneak
– Phantom Force
– Seed Bomb

I’ve mentioned Gourgeist an absurd amount of times already, so let’s start with it. Gourgeist is meant to be the star of Halloween Party, but it tended to be the factor holding me back. I had decided on a Choice Band set, because I was a big fan of Trick in this meta. Many Pokemon were heavily built around their items, so taking them away was a huge advantage. This was especially so for Calm Mind Spiritomb, as it also locked it into a move stopping any boosting, Resting, or Sleep Talking nonsense. The defensive EVs here allowed me to take a Gengar Shadow Ball and Sucker Punch most of the time, while 2HKOing back with Shadow Sneak (a scenario which never actually happened). Twelve speed EVs were invested to out speed other Gourgeist and also Golurk. While Shadow Sneak did end up picking up a few KOs, the majority of the battles Gourgeist scouted an item with Frisk then either used Trick or an attack before being defeated.

What I should have used:

Gourgeist-Super @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Trick
– Shadow Sneak
– Phantom Force
– Destiny Bond

While changing from Choice Band to Choice Scarf isn’t huge, Choice Scarf Gourgeist would have been about one hundred times better than the Choice Band set I used. This set would have allowed Gourgeist to be much more versatile, while retaining the very strong Trick option. 188 Speed is the magic speed number for a Scarf Gourgeist, allowing it to out speed Timid Chandelure. Any more speed would be pointless, as no matter how much more you invest the only semi significant thing you do is speed tie other Choice Scarf Gourgeist (who you want to be slower than anyway, so you win Phantom Force battles). The HP EVs were just a dump, although a somewhat thought out dumping. While investing them all into Special Defense would have given it about a three percent chance to live a Timid Gengar Shadow Ball, investing into HP allows Gourgeist to take hits from opposing Gourgeist a bit better – a much more common situation.

hOnK!
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Perish Song
– Sucker Punch
– Shadow Ball
– Dazzling Gleam

OK, I’m gonna be honest here. I really only used Gengar because I already had one. I cannot recall ever bringing it to a game, although I faced a few. I also faced more than a few Mega Gengar, which was really surprising because Mega Gengar was pretty bad in this format. So let’s talk about my set. If you’re not familiar with the Halloween Party format Sucker Punch on a Gengar seems immensely stupid. However, it’s actually a response to the format. Notice I did not say a “reliable response to the format”. The idea here is that after you Shadow Ball an Aegislash, if it’s still in blade form you can KO it with Sucker Punch before it finishes you off with Shadow Sneak. Pretty cool in concept, but in execution tended to be pretty poor. Most Aegislash users got wise to it pretty quickly and started using King’s Shield before going for the Shadow Sneak KO. Once in shield form Sucker Punch is no longer a KO. Dazzling Gleam is the only Fairy move in the format and was a reasonably reliable way to hit Sableye and Spiritomb decently. Perish Song is the last interesting move here. While trapping Ghost type Pokemon cannot be done, you can at least force something to switch out. Perish Song is especially useful against Spiritomb, as it could easily Calm Mind and Rest if you were using Destiny Bond, a move commonly seen used over Perish Song. Also, had I been more serious about using Gengar I would have used a Hasty or Naive one, as to not impact Sucker Punch’s damage.

Spook!
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 92 SpA / 92 SpD / 68 Spe
Hasty Nature
– Swords Dance
– King’s Shield
– Shadow Ball
– Shadow Sneak

Aegislash was pretty cool in this format. I’m positive that upon hearing about this format a large amount of people immediately thought Weakness Policy Aegislash would be super good. And for the most part it was. However, people got very creative with their Aegislash counters and it probably ended up a lot worse than would be expected. I already mentioned Sucker Punch Gengar, but there were also things like Prankster Imprision from Mega Banette and Sableye, and Kasib Berry Chandelure (I’ll get to that next). Anyway, let’s talk about my EVs. I cannot fully remember why I wanted 92 Special Defense, but I did, so I imagine it was taking something like Timid Chandelure Fire Blast. The 68 Speed was to out speed slower versions of Mega Banette, so if I was at +2 Attack I could Shadow Sneak for a KO faster than their Destiny Bond.

Scare!
Chandelure @ Kasib Berry
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 108 HP / 244 SpA / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Overheat
– Flame Charge
– Will-O-Wisp

When it came to Chandelure nearly everyone talked about Choice Specs or Choice Scarf. You also had the occasional person championing Focus Sash Chandelure. However, in my mind, Kasib Berry Chandelure was the superior Chandelure set. Kasib Berry allowed Chandelure to be able to beat very nearly every other Ghost (notable exceptions include Flash Fire sash Chandelure, most Spiritiomb, some Sableye, and faster Kasib Berry Chandelure). The EVs allow Chandelure to out speed Timid Gengar after a Flame Charge, while also allowing it take a Shadow Ball and Sucker Punch from Gengar as well. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Flame Charge was chosen in order to beat Gengar, as I would break a Focus Sash, get the Speed boost, and then KO with Shadow Ball. Will-O-Wisp was chosen as utility vs the rarer physical Ghosts and as an option to beat Shedinja in one hit as opposed to two, should someone be brave enough to use it.

WhOoOo!
Spiritomb @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 108 SpA / 140 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
– Foul Play
– Nasty Plot
– Dark Pulse
– Shadow Sneak

Spiritomb was really, really, REALLY strong in this format. In fact, I’d be willing to say it’s the only Pokemon I was truly worried about. I felt priority was a really big deal in the Halloween Party format, so I wanted to run a Spiritomb that had Sucker Punch or Shadow Sneak (obviously I decided on Shadow Sneak) which put the option of the Calm Mind set right out. I ended up using this Nasty Plot utility set. The main idea of this set was that I could Nasty Plot along with a Spiritomb that was Calm Minding and end up beating it with my greater boosts. Foul Play was chosen in case I needed to attack into a Spiritomb that already had boosts up, as well as being better than unboosted Dark Pulse against Aegislash and Mega Banette. I was bulky enough to take a +2 Shadow Ball from Aegislash or a Choice Specs Boosted Overheat from Chandelure. The speed was added as sort of a pseudo speed creep against other Spiritomb, just for the off chance to take advantage of Dark Pulse’s flinch chance.

Trick (or treat)!
Sableye @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 204 HP / 116 Atk / 4 Def / 140 SpD / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Trick
– Sucker Punch
– Foul Play
– Will-O-Wisp

Choice Scarf Sableye was both my largest success and my biggest failure, all rolled into one Pokemon. This Pokemon is absolutely phenomenal in a Ghost only format where you do not have to bring Gourgeist. Once Gourgeist is thrown into the mix, deciding to use it can be difficult. This Sableye is no where near as bulky as other Sableye, and as such can end up being less than useful when you already have one Pokemon you expect to be dead weight. Regardless, I still used it in the majority of my battles and it usually ended up working out. Let’s talk about the EVs. 44 Speed allowed me to out speed all other Sableye while I held the Choice Scarf. This was a huge advantage in the Sableye mirror, where I knew I could Trick with no worries at all. Several times I was able to lock an opposing Sableye into Taunt, forcing a switch and crippling the Sableye for the rest of the game. The Attack EVs allowed me to OHKO Gengar. While I expected most Gengar to have Focus Sash, I could Trick away their Focus Sash and then KO with Sucker Punch. The same process worked with Aegislash. The other interesting move here is Will-O-Wisp. I originally had Recover in that slot, but rarely used it. I switched to Will-O-Wisp because it allowed me to get around Swagger spam from an opposing choice locked Sableye, assuming I had at least two Pokemon left. It also allowed me to Burn random things, which really can’t be understated in usefulness. Random Burned physical attackers became setup fodder for Aegislash, to a lesser extent Spiritomb, and even rarely Chandelure.

What I should have used:
Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
– Taunt
– Calm Mind
– Shadow Ball
– Recover

Despite how cool Trick Scarf Sableye was, I should have used Trick Scarf Gourgeist. This means I would have needed a different Sableye set. I would have used Calm Mind Sableye. I don’t know what the EVs or Nature would have been, but it would have been much bulkier than the set I ended up using, making it much less of a liability to bring with Gourgeist. I really wish I could say more about this set, but I have no experience with it, nor is it straightforward like Choice Scarf Gourgeist is.

After-Party Thoughts

My final record was 26-4, with a score of 1791. While this was just shy of my goal of 1800+, it was still enough for first place in North America and I feel I absolutely could have achieved that goal had I been more prepared to have Gourgeist every battle. Overall I had a fun time playing an all Ghost format and would participate in one again. This year we’ve seen a bunch of small strange tournaments (such as the Eevee tournament and the Fairy tournament), but I think this one was the best so far. I hope we keep seeing more tournaments like these; not necessarily type restricted tournaments, but tournaments where we have a small, interesting set of Pokemon to choose from.


About the Author

Kaw Kaw! Twitter: @CrowVGC



5 Responses to The Spooky Scary Halloween Party

  1. Velocity says:

    Very interesting team. Congratulations on such a high ranking! Unfortunately I didn’t compete this time around. Also, how would I write a report or submit a report? Thanks

  2. cupcakemayhem15 says:

    I can see why you managed to get high rank. Nice halloween team ^.^

  3. Crow says:

    Very interesting team. Congratulations on such a high ranking! Unfortunately I didn’t compete this time around. Also, how would I write a report or submit a report? Thanks

    Usually you have to post your article idea and an outline in the Workshop section and have it approved by an admin who will give you article privileges 

  4. ScottMtc says:

    These metagames are cool. It’s nice to see how you have to experiment with movesets that are unusual in other Battle Spot metagames.
    I hope they do more tournaments like this. It’s good to open your mind and maybe discover new movesets that could work in VGC but you otherwise wouldn’t have thought of (although it doesn’t seem to be the case here. Sucker Punch Gengar? Really?)

  5. E4ZYM0N3Y says:

    I went 22-8 overall but didn’t get ranked. I felt like if I replayed all the matches again with the same team I could have done much better. I did not realize until my first battle that you have to enter Gourgeist into the battle as well(I thought it just had to be in your party). I would have built a better one had I known that. Also, I would have brought Chandelure instead of Spiritomb just to prevent people from opening with Gourgeist.
    My First day I went 8-2, I waited until later on the second day so I could play all of my last 20 matches in one night. I went 6-4, dropping my rating from 1656 all the way back down to 1522. I took a short break and then came back and won 8 in a row to get me into the high 1600’s, I lost my last two matches just barely by two players(from JPN and KOR) with a higher ELO than me.
    My team was:
    Aegislash (F) @ Weakness Policy
    Ability: Stance Change
    EVs: 252 HP / 127 Def / 131 SpD
    Quiet Nature
    IVs: 0 Spe
    – King’s Shield
    – Substitute
    – Shadow Sneak
    – Shadow Ball

    Gengar (F) @ Gengarite
    Ability: Levitate
    EVs: 124 HP / 132 SpA / 252 Spe
    Timid Nature
    – Dazzling Gleam
    – Shadow Ball
    – Thunderbolt
    – Dark Pulse

    Sableye (F) @ Leftovers
    Ability: Prankster
    Shiny: Yes
    EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk / 60 Def / 139 SpD
    Careful Nature
    IVs: 0 Spe
    – Taunt
    – Will-O-Wisp
    – Recover
    – Knock Off

    Banette @ Banettite
    Ability: Frisk
    EVs: 232 HP / 60 Atk / 101 Def / 115 SpD
    Adamant Nature
    – Thunder Wave
    – Taunt
    – Destiny Bond
    – Knock Off

    Gourgeist-Super (F) @ Rocky Helmet
    Ability: Insomnia
    EVs: 250 HP / 134 Def / 126 SpD
    Careful Nature
    – Will-O-Wisp
    – Pain Split
    – Leech Seed
    – Shadow Sneak

    Spiritomb (F) @ Expert Belt
    EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
    Adamant Nature
    – Sucker Punch
    – Shadow Sneak
    – Rest
    – Sleep Talk

    I primarily relied on Mega Gengar Open with Gourgeist pivoting into Aegislash for the last 20 matches. Only a few faster Gengars beat my team while using that strategy, and if they weren’t max SpA EV’s they may not have OHKO’d my Gengar allowing me to OHKO back and start the mega sweep. I played my first 10 matches using Sableye open into Gengar or Banette with Gourg as a Pivot/Closer and i wonder how that would have fared on the second day, but after reviewing the poemon teams I saw and seeing some videos of other payers Day 1 on youtube I decided to just stick with the Gengar/Aegislash/Gourg combo through the finish.

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